by AIW Member Ruth Schimel, PhD What a great conference we had this year! After attending over six or so, I think this one was the best yet. One surprise I had, regardless of the level of experience and expertise any of us have: how few people seemed to reach out to one another. Example: [...]
The Official Blog of American Independent Writers
Tag Archive: american independent writers
I wish I could be more like Jack Kerouac
By Andrew W. M. Beierle, AIW Board Member I am preparing for my first transcontinental road trip, a weeklong journey to my new home in the San Bernardino National Forest, 6,109 feet above sea level, where I plan to begin a new long-term writing project. Perhaps the most daunting aspect of this life-changing 2,645-mile trek [...]
Words Immortal: In Memory of Poet Rachel Wetzsteon
by Mark Tarallo, AIW Vice President As soon as the news came, Facebook starting buzzing away with tributes to Holden, Esme, and Bananafish. A not-so-perfect day of mourning for half the readers of the world, myself included. Rest in Peace, J.D. Salinger. A day later, when Louis Auchincloss died, I felt grateful that I had [...]
Word Perfect R.I.P.
by Clyde T. Linsley, AIW Board Member It isn’t dead, yet. Not really. But I think it may have suffered the fate worse than death. It’s become Word. First, I must confess a dirty little secret. I think the epitome, the quintessence; of word-processing computer software was Word Perfect. To be more specific: Word Perfect [...]
E-Publishing: There Is an Upside
by Cecilia Sepp, AIW Immediate Past President & Chair, Member Engagement In the February 8 issue of “The Weekly Standard,” author James Gardner pointed out the up side of electronic publishing: access to the sum total of written knowledge available instantly no matter where you are (as long as you have an internet connection). In [...]
How to Make Sure Your Readers Ignore Your Stuff: No Action Verbs, No Imagery
a “Verbal Knightcap” by Robert M. Knight, AIW Board Member One really great way to make your readers go away is to sneer at them, write pompously. Works every time; they will make a point of avoiding what you wrote. And one great way to write pompously is to drain the energy of your sentences [...]
Musings on a Snowbound Day
by Jessie Seigel, AIW Board Member On this day, when we in the D.C. area are having our second heavy snow storm in a week (the first having deposited upwards of thirty inches of snow in places), and I look out my window at the tree branches weighed down by a foot of the white [...]
Macmillian vs. Amazon: How Much Is Too Much, or Not Enough?
by Clyde T. Linsley, AIW Board Member If you write books, or ever considered writing a book, you have probably followed the stories about the dispute between Macmillan Publishers and Amazon.com. To quote President Kennedy, “I want to say this about that.” The dispute primarily concerns the price that Amazon wanted to apply to ebooks, [...]
Dig out Some Writing Time During Snowy Stillness
by AIW President Claude Berube Like most people in the Mid-Atlantic, I found that more than two feet of snow blanketed my house and cars yesterday. The Mayor and Governor declared emergencies for the city and state respectively; all cars were ordered to remain off the road. By last night, the storm had passed. The [...]
A Taste of Hiberno-English
by Jessie Seigel, AIW Board Member If I had ten lives, one of them would be lived as a linguist. Language, phonetics, and the structure of the ways in which people speak their own languages and of how they carry that into English fascinate me. Modern Irish (what the Irish call Irish and others sometimes [...]
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Read the Latest News from AIW
- A Message about a Promising Future for Washington Independent Writers Association, Inc. (“WashWriters”) from: May 18, 2012
- Great conference – thanks to all! June 17, 2011
- Washington Writer’s Conference – June 11 June 10, 2011
- The Washington Writer’s Conference-June 11-Updated Program! June 7, 2011
- The Washington Writer’s Conference, sponsored by AIW and The Writer’s Center May 23, 2011
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